Cardiff City may have the in-form striker in the Championship right now, but, as usual, boss Malky Mackay is calling for more from his troops.

Cardiff City may have the in-form striker in the Championship right now, but, as usual, boss Malky Mackay is calling for more from his troops.

Since his arrival from Sunderland last month, Fraizer Campbell has been on fire when it comes to finding the net for his new club.

The 25-year-old made it five goals in five appearances for the Bluebirds as he grabbed a brace in Sunday’s 2-1 win at Wolves.

It ensured the marksman had scored two on his first home start, a 2-1 win over Bristol City, and followed that up with a brace on his first away start too.

It’s little exaggeration to say that Campbell has already started paying back his £600,000 transfer fee and is quickly establishing himself as the Championship bargain of the January transfer window.

But, ahead of his side’s trip to Middlesbrough on the weekend, Mackay has called on his other attackers to keep the pressure on first choice Campbell.

“I think strikers are constantly in the position where every time they step onto a pitch they have to give their best,” said Mackay.

“You have to see it in training too, so that they give themselves the best chance possible to be picked.

“Nothing has changed when it comes to that as far as I’m concerned this season.

“The group I have here are very good at that and they support each other too.

“Fraizer has come in and been part of everything straight away and all the players do really seem to be helping each other out.

“When one is injured or one is rested you’ve seen plenty of times this season that they are all a part of what is going on and they all know they have a part to play.

“They know that at any time they might be asked to go out there and score goals.”

Despite Mackay’s protestations it remains hard to see where the pressure for Campbell’s shirt is going to come from within the Bluebirds’ attacking department.

With Nicky Maynard out for the season with his cruciate injury, Campbell seems the logical and in-form choice right now.

Bluebirds hero Robert Earnshaw remains out of Mackay’s thoughts and, after a loan spell at Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv, has been told he can leave the club again.

Joe Mason, after a breakthrough campaign last season, has found progress a little more difficult this time around.

The 21-year-old has had to make do with mostly appearances from the bench this season campaign, but is still managing five goals so far.

Veteran Heidar Helguson, who began the season as perhaps the main Cardiff frontman, has found pitch time limited himself, too, of late.

Rudy Gestede, meanwhile, while flirting with the first team, has also struggled for appearances, although the Frenchman did grab a goal for Cardiff’s development squad this week as they overcame Swansea.

New teenage signing Rhys Healey moved from Welsh Premier outfit Connah’s Quay last month and has been tipped by Mackay to have a bright future at the club, but is very much just that, one for the future.

Etien Velikonja, meanwhile, despite costing in excess of £1m from Maribor in his native Slovenia, has struggled to make an impact on the first team too.

So the onus will remain fixed on Campbell as the Bluebirds head to Boro this weekend looking to keep their eight-point gap at the top of the table going.

It will be a long tough trip for Mackay and his men against a Boro side who are fighting for their play-off lives.

A 2-1 defeat at home to Millwall last weekend saw Tony Mowbray’s men slip down to seventh.

The Bluebirds will be looking to capitalise on those concerns and, ahead of the weekend, Mackay has again issued a heartfelt thank-you to all supporters and urged one final push as the season enters its critical phase.

“I would just ask the fans to keep believing in us the way they have done right through the season,” added Mackay.

“Keep supporting this team because these players here will sweat for that jersey and will try to give the supporters everything they have got now right through until we get where we all want to be.

“If the fans keep with us, stay beside us that is going to be something that will help myself, my staff and the players an incredible amount.

“Over the next couple of months our group will remain fully focused on the task in hand, I can assure our supporters of that.”

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